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Re: Gunnerkrigg Court 3: Mystery Solved!

Actually another thing- why does she look human? I mean, the Gunnerkriggverse seems to follow evolutionary theory, so why does she look like something that for 99% of her existence doesn't exist?

...okay I need to stop over thinking this.

My pet theories on that are that Jones doesn't necessarily look like she looks. Rather that:
1) Jones looks as the viewer's mind perceives her.
OR
2) Jones appears as she chooses. The comic is demonstrating Jones with the form we are familiar with to make it easier for us to understand, rather than trying to explain to us that each previous form was also Jones.

I personally prefer Theory 2.

Last edited by Belril Duskwalk; 2012-11-02 at 04:53 PM.

78% of all DM's start their first campaign in a tavern. If you're among the 22% who didn't, copy and paste this into your signature and tell us where you DID begin.
The docks of a small fishing village. One of the character's nearly drown trying to catch a fish barehanded.

Originally Posted by navar100

What the DM says goes. If he says enough stupid stuff, the players go too.

Re: Gunnerkrigg Court 3: Mystery Solved!

Originally Posted by Belril Duskwalk

My pet theories on that are that Jones doesn't necessarily look like she looks. Rather that:
1) Jones looks as the viewer's mind perceives her.
OR
2) Jones appears as she chooses. The comic is demonstrating Jones with the form we are familiar with to make it easier for us to understand, rather than trying to explain to us that each previous form was also Jones.

I personally prefer Theory 2.

If she could choose what form she appears in, why would she have been "found out" in the late 19th/early 20th century?

Last edited by Ravens_cry; 2012-11-02 at 07:36 PM.

Originally Posted by Calanon

Raven_Cry's comments often have the effects of a +5 Tome of Understanding

Re: Gunnerkrigg Court 3: Mystery Solved!

Originally Posted by Ravens_cry

If she could choose what form she appears in, why would she have been "found out" in the late 19th/early 20th century?

She can decide what she looks like, but at some point she's sort of stuck. She decides to look like a human. Something happens to her that should kill a human that bounces off of her. How does changing shape deal with that after the fact?

NOTE: I don't actually subscribe to the appearance-changing theory.

Originally Posted by jamieth

...though Talla does her best to sound objective and impartial, it doesn't cover stuff like "ask a 9-year-old to tank for the party."

Re: Gunnerkrigg Court 3: Mystery Solved!

Originally Posted by Qwertystop

She can decide what she looks like, but at some point she's sort of stuck. She decides to look like a human. Something happens to her that should kill a human that bounces off of her. How does changing shape deal with that after the fact?

NOTE: I don't actually subscribe to the appearance-changing theory.

You fake an injury, pretend to die, get buried, and then dig yourself out, moving to a different area and/or, especially in more modern times, change your appearance.

Originally Posted by Calanon

Raven_Cry's comments often have the effects of a +5 Tome of Understanding

Re: Gunnerkrigg Court 3: Mystery Solved!

Now that I think about it, that arrest scene is a bit odd. After millions of years she must know that her appearance doesn't change and that this is very unusual for normal humans. Why is she just waiting around to be caught?

Re: Gunnerkrigg Court 3: Mystery Solved!

Originally Posted by Haruspex_Pariah

Now that I think about it, that arrest scene is a bit odd. After millions of years she must know that her appearance doesn't change and that this is very unusual for normal humans. Why is she just waiting around to be caught?

Presumably, she just didn't care.

Originally Posted by Winterwind

Mewtarthio, you have scared my brain into hiding, a trembling, broken shadow of a thing, cowering somewhere in the soothing darkness and singing nursery rhymes in the hope of obscuring the Lovecraftian facts you so boldly brought into daylight.

Re: Gunnerkrigg Court 3: Mystery Solved!

Originally Posted by Mewtarthio

Presumably, she just didn't care.

That's another thing, as far as I know Jones' goals haven't been described to us. What I can see is that she seems to get attached to certain individuals such as Lord Samuel(?), the factory owner, and now Eglamore.

Does she have an endgame? Or is she just living her (immortal) life as she fancies.

Re: Gunnerkrigg Court 3: Mystery Solved!

Originally Posted by Ravens_cry

You fake an injury, pretend to die, get buried, and then dig yourself out, moving to a different area and/or, especially in more modern times, change your appearance.

Well yes, she could do all of that. However, faking the injury, playing dead, being buried, etc. It's all just a show to get to the part where you move to somewhere where the people won't know you aren't normal.

If the people can't kill you (and they clearly can't) and you can walk further than the reach of your reputation as 'a devil' within a week or so (simple for an apparently invincible being in Medieval times) why bother with the act?

The end result is the same either way, Jones moves to another place where nobody knows her. If she scares the hell out of the townsfolk rather than letting them think they won, is that necessarily even a bad thing?

78% of all DM's start their first campaign in a tavern. If you're among the 22% who didn't, copy and paste this into your signature and tell us where you DID begin.
The docks of a small fishing village. One of the character's nearly drown trying to catch a fish barehanded.

Originally Posted by navar100

What the DM says goes. If he says enough stupid stuff, the players go too.

Re: Gunnerkrigg Court 3: Mystery Solved!

Trade has existed for as long as, or longer than, recorded history. And where people get together to trade, they also swap information, gossip.
Tales of a blond witch who can take a spear to the guts or some other injury would spread quickly, especially by her standards.

Last edited by Ravens_cry; 2012-11-03 at 12:12 AM.

Originally Posted by Calanon

Raven_Cry's comments often have the effects of a +5 Tome of Understanding

Re: Gunnerkrigg Court 3: Mystery Solved!

Originally Posted by Ravens_cry

Trade has existed for as long as, or longer than, recorded history. And where people get together to trade, they also swap information, gossip.
Tales of a blond witch who can take a spear to the guts or some other injury would spread quickly, especially by her standards.

Sure the tale of a blond witch who can take a spear to the gut would spread. But without anyone seeing her survive something that should kill her, she's just another blonde woman as long as nobody from the old town catches up with her. Anyway, assuming my Theory 2 was correct, she would have changed her appearance shortly after the guard failed to stab her to death. She just felt that busting the spear and walking away was the more expedient path to finding a new place than feigning death.

HOWEVER, I just did a bit of an archive binge and found some more convincing evidence that I am wrong. The Langdon Estate. If she can alter her appearance on even a human-age scale, she clearly would have had no trouble pretending to be old, thus allowing herself to keep the Langdon Estate and avoid being arrested as an imposter. THAT, I can't explain. Theory 2 executed.

78% of all DM's start their first campaign in a tavern. If you're among the 22% who didn't, copy and paste this into your signature and tell us where you DID begin.
The docks of a small fishing village. One of the character's nearly drown trying to catch a fish barehanded.

Originally Posted by navar100

What the DM says goes. If he says enough stupid stuff, the players go too.

Re: Gunnerkrigg Court 3: Mystery Solved!

Originally Posted by Belril Duskwalk

Sure the tale of a blond witch who can take a spear to the gut would spread. But without anyone seeing her survive something that should kill her, she's just another blonde woman as long as nobody from the old town catches up with her. Anyway, assuming my Theory 2 was correct, she would have changed her appearance shortly after the guard failed to stab her to death. She just felt that busting the spear and walking away was the more expedient path to finding a new place than feigning death.

Perhaps, but the incidents shown would hardly be the only only incidents.
Also, even in many parts of parts of Europe in a per-industrial state, a blond woman would be worthy of mention, and how much more so outside of Europe.

Originally Posted by Belril Duskwalk

HOWEVER, I just did a bit of an archive binge and found some more convincing evidence that I am wrong. The Langdon Estate. If she can alter her appearance on even a human-age scale, she clearly would have had no trouble pretending to be old, thus allowing herself to keep the Langdon Estate and avoid being arrested as an imposter. THAT, I can't explain. Theory 2 executed.

Which is exactly the page I linked to when I first raised my objection to that theory in post #722.

Last edited by Ravens_cry; 2012-11-03 at 01:33 AM.

Originally Posted by Calanon

Raven_Cry's comments often have the effects of a +5 Tome of Understanding

Re: Gunnerkrigg Court 3: Mystery Solved!

Originally Posted by Ravens_cry

Which is exactly the page I linked to when I first raised my objection to that theory in post #722.

Well. Now I'm terribly embarrassed. Somehow I was sure that link said the 15th century and went to her getting stabbed in the Middle Ages. I really need to stop trying to make logical arguments after midnight. My apologies.

Last edited by Belril Duskwalk; 2012-11-03 at 07:07 AM.

78% of all DM's start their first campaign in a tavern. If you're among the 22% who didn't, copy and paste this into your signature and tell us where you DID begin.
The docks of a small fishing village. One of the character's nearly drown trying to catch a fish barehanded.

Originally Posted by navar100

What the DM says goes. If he says enough stupid stuff, the players go too.

Re: Gunnerkrigg Court 3: Mystery Solved!

A thought has occurred to me regarding Jones in the Silurian. We know how strong she is. Even with bad leverage she should be able to break her head at least free. So I wonder

A) Did she just wake up? or
B) Being Jones, is she content to just watch and not move? or
C) Is she growing out of the rock and not complete yet? or
D) Does her strength grow over time and she's pretty weak in this scene? or
E) Something else?

I suspect E...

Originally Posted by Haruspex_Pariah

Now that I think about it, that arrest scene is a bit odd. After millions of years she must know that her appearance doesn't change and that this is very unusual for normal humans. Why is she just waiting around to be caught?

She might have been using the money and power of the estate to try to accomplish something. In such a case, sticking around as long as possible, even if it led to her getting caught, would be logical.

(I wonder what happened with the police. If they put her in the back of a Black Maria to take her to the police station, she could have just forced the door open in transit, jumped out, and vanished into the crowds... I doubt she'd allow them to get her to the station and start asking questions, as that would cause problems... And it's not like she could allow herself to be imprisoned, either, at least for very long, as someone would notice she wasn't aging...)

Re: Gunnerkrigg Court 3: Mystery Solved!

Originally Posted by Haruspex_Pariah

Now that I think about it, that arrest scene is a bit odd. After millions of years she must know that her appearance doesn't change and that this is very unusual for normal humans. Why is she just waiting around to be caught?

Probably perspective. When you're durable enough to sit under the ocean for millions of years, walk on top of a glacier, take an aurochs to the face, and take a spear to the gut, being arrested probably isn't that much of a hindrance.

It'd be like you or I being told to go and sit in a corner for 60 seconds, if that.

This song is Copyrighted in U.S., under Seal of Copyright # 154085, for a period of 28 years, and anybody caught singin it without our permission, will be mighty good friends of ourn, cause we dont give a dern. Publish it. Write it. Sing it. Swing to it. Yodel it. We wrote it, thats all we wanted to do.

Re: Gunnerkrigg Court 3: Mystery Solved!

Originally Posted by Belril Duskwalk

Well. Now I'm terribly embarrassed. Somehow I was sure that link said the 15th century and went to her getting stabbed in the Middle Ages. I really need to stop trying to make logical arguments after midnight. My apologies.

No problem.

Originally Posted by Calanon

Raven_Cry's comments often have the effects of a +5 Tome of Understanding

Re: Gunnerkrigg Court 3: Mystery Solved!

Originally Posted by Shadowbane

Her hair is either growing from the rock or coming from the rock.

If Jones were caught in a lava flow, strands of her hair might wind up stretching out a distance from her head as the rock solidified. Then as eons wore the rock away, the tips of the hair would slowly emerge...

Re: Gunnerkrigg Court 3: Mystery Solved!

I'm calling it: Jones is the dense object around which stellar dust accumulated, leading to the eventual formation of Earth.

Where she came from before that is anyone's guess.

But then why would she be close enough to the surface to be unearthed during the Silurian period? Dust gathering around her to form the Earth would by necessity put her at the center of the Earth. Unless she deliberately moved away from the core, in which case the first thing we saw of her during the Silurian period should have been her hand, not her face.

Originally Posted by Zap Dynamic

I want to create a world that is full of possibility, and one of the best ways to handle it is by creating a bunch of stories that haven't yet been finished.

Originally Posted by Grey_Wolf_c

At this point, however, I'm thinking way too hard about the practical problems of running a battle royale school for Russian assassins, so I think I'll leave it there.

In my posts, smilies generally correspond to my expression at the time. As an example, means "huh?" and "Hmm..". Also, "Landis" is fine.